3 – Poison Beer
If you’ve ever tasted a bottle of beer that tasted like stale piss, just know that you would be deemed lucky in certain places in the 19th century. We know that strychnine is fatal in anything above a minute dose but in the 1800s, people were rolling the dice without even realizing it. Strychnine was considered a tonic and beer companies added it to their products for a little extra kick.
Predictably, things went horribly wrong on more than one occasion. You were at greatest risk if you lived in Australia by the looks of things. Two men walked into a bar in Victoria, asked for ale and proceeded to drink it. However, it was far too bitter to consume, so they stop; just in time as it happened because the beer contained too much strychnine. Had they gulped their drink down in one, death was certain.
In the same year, Thomas Lester was not so fortunate as he died from the effects of drinking beer with excessive strychnine. A fellow crewman by the name of Walter White also fell seriously ill but survived. Lester died within an hour of consuming the beer, and his death was a ghastly sight. Both men suffered violent spasms after their ship arrived at the Queenscliff Pier. A solicitor at the scene advised giving the men water and mustard but to no avail.
12 years later in the state of Queensland, Catherine Waddell also suffered the ‘death by beer’ fate. She panicked after drinking a small quantity of ale that tasted bitter and immediately became convinced she had been poisoned. Initially, the post-mortem concluded that Waddell had worried herself to death. Eventually, the police collected the offending bottle and found that it contained 24 times the lethal dose; poor Waddell didn’t stand a chance.